[Volleyball] Hawks Start Slow, Finishes Strong at La Sierra

RIVERSIDE, Calif. –San Diego Christian women's volleyball continued its amazing run to open the season, defeating a very strong La Sierra University squad on Tuesday night. The 3-sets-to-1 victory over the host Golden Eagles improved their overall record to 3-0 with all wins coming on the road.

It looked like the San Diego Christian had finally met their match when in the opening set, the Golden Eagles got off to a hot start. La Sierra scored the first point and never looked back. The Hawks were never able to get closer than 5 points to the Golden Eagles, and LSU took the opener 20-25.

It looked like it might not be the Hawks night when the second set began much the same way as the first. After going down 3-6 early, the resilient Hawks regrouped and slowly began to chip away at the LSU lead. SDCC took the lead midway through the set when senior, Arianna Velasquez served up back-to-back aces and the duo of Isabella Marshall and Breanna Brooks combined for a big block. La Sierra responded and went on a five-point run of their own. Undaunted, the second Hawk comeback of the set would even the match 1-1. A game-changing 15-to-6 run, led by a six consecutive point service by SDCC's Kayli Barrera, would ultimately swing the momentum in favor of San Diego Christian.

Coach Gene Krieger was pleased with how the team responded, "It was great to get our third win on the road to start the new season. We had to defeat a very tough La Sierra squad tonight that is probably going finish in the top half of the CalPac conference. It was definitely our toughest match to date. La Sierra came out very strong in the first set and put us on our heels. Our team just stuck together and kept plugging along. They kept working together and ended up changing things around."

The third set began with back-to-back kills from Brooks and junior transfer, Anuhea Kaohi. The Hawks would lead wire-to-wire in the third with Celestina Iupeli providing many big kills along the way. San Diego Chrsitian would close out the fourth set in dominating fashion on the back of huge hits by Jessica Pinasco, to take the match.

Krieger had praise for his stalwarts and newcomers alike, "We were led tonight by Jessica Pinasco with 12 kills, and Mata (Celestina) Iupeli who hit 9 out of 15 for a .467 kill percentage. It was the first game of the season for Anuhea Kaohi who made 6 of 13 kills for a .462. Strong serving by Ariana (Velasquez) and Kayli (Barrera) helped change the momentum. It was a big win for us. I am looking forward to our first home game Thursday against Westcliff."

UP NEXT:

The Hawks home-opener is scheduled against the Westcliff Warriors on Friday, September 3 at 4:00 pm. The match will take place at the El Cajon Salvation Army. To kick off the return of in-person fans, admission will be FREE! In keeping with the rules of the gym, all spectators will be required to wear a mask regardless of vaccination status.